NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — There’s nothing very subtle about Jozy Altidore’s game, but Altidore did drop a subtle — though very pointed — message on Saturday. Reading between lines, the big forward suggested that Toronto FC would be making a mistake letting him go after the 2019 season.

“I still have 5-6-7 great years ahead of me,” said the veteran forward, who has one year (2019) left on his contract. “I haven’t had a muscle injury since 2016 and I feel good about that. It’s been three years now and all I’ve had is a broken foot and the ligament tear in the ankle. But surgery fixed those and I’m back to 100% fit. And I showed last year that I can still score goals when I’m on the field. So for me, there’s no worries at all (about staying healthy) and the club knows my situation. They know how fit I am and what the expectation is with that.”

Altidore underwent surgery to remove bone fragments from his right ankle in October and is said to be about two weeks away from being able to participate in full workouts.

He has been a major part of Toronto’s success since joining club in 2015 and was major contributor in Toronto’s historic, treble-winning campaign in 2017, scoring 17 goals and adding six assists in 31 games across the regular season and playoffs.

Foot and ankle injuries limited his appearances last year, though he still scored some big goals, particularly in the Champions League.

But rumours that he is on his way out have dogged the Livingston, N.J., native and that doesn’t seem to be sitting well with the U.S. international. Altidore has made in known on many occasions that he doesn’t want to play anywhere other than Toronto, but there was a sense of resignation in voice on Saturday — that perhaps it’s a done deal and he’s not long for the Reds.

“Of course. I want to stay in Toronto,” Altidore told the Toronto Sun. “For me and my family, Toronto is home, Toronto is everything. And we stressed that to Mr. Tanenbaum (MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum) and to everybody at Toronto FC. But if the direction is something else, it’s no problem. Like I said, it would be, ‘Thank you very much for the time’ and in the summertime I’ll have to look for a new team.

“But I love this place. I think I’ve given my body to Toronto in every way,” he continued. “I tried to score all the big goals I could and I just love the city. It’s given me so much. I don’t know how many ways I can say that this is where I want to be. But I get that there is a business side and I’ve cooperated on that end as well. But I can’t do anymore than say I want to be here and try to do all the right things. But I hope in the end that I’m a Toronto player for the rest of my career.”

Altidore said his agent and TFC management are talking, but there doesn’t seem much happening, which he admitted is disappointing. Team captain Michael Bradley is in the same boat, though there’s not a sense that he is going anywhere anytime soon.

Contract angst aside, Altidore said he is extremely excited to get back on the field and play and he believes, despite the club’s struggles in MLS play last year (missing the playoffs after winning pretty well everything in 2017), that the Reds can bounce back.

“I still think we have a pretty strong core,” he said. “Again, we lost some very key players (in Sebastian Giovinco and Victor Vazquez), but I think the opportunity and the time is there to (come back strong) if we make the right choices and get the right pieces.

“For us as players we have to remember what we’ve been about the last 4-5 years — a team that plays hard, wants to have the ball, wants to press, wants to score goals. The MO for us, that DNA, can’t change. We just have to learn how to go about it in a different way.”

TORONTO A HOT DESTINATION

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Rumours are rampant that TFC is about to announce the acquisition of at least a couple of quality international players and veteran forward Jozy Altidore believes that, more and more, such players are looking at Toronto as a place to be.

Altidore said the first-class way TFC operates has made Toronto a destination for players toiling in Europe or South America leagues who want to try something new, but continue to play for a solid organization in a league that is constantly improving.

“I think Toronto is for a lot of players now a preference,” he said. “And I think that says a lot about the fans, the organization, the city, but also the players and what the players have done over the past five years here, what we’ve been able to build that other players from outside MLS, from Europe, can see.

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